Preliminary data suggest that Ukraine’s international
reserves amounted to the equivalent of USD 16,737.0 million as of 1 November
2018. The international reserves grew by 0.6%
within a month. The change in the international reserves volume in October was
due to the following.

·

First, the NBU’s interventions. Without any
depreciation pressure on the hryvnia exchange rate and due to the surplus of
foreign currency supply, in particular driven by the inflow of FX earnings
from grain exports, the NBU was able to replenish the international reserves
through net purchase of foreign currency in the interbank FX market.

As a result, the NBU’s net FX purchases
amounted to USD 198.5 million in October. During the month, the NBU purchased
USD 268.5 million, including USD 126.0 million through interventions at
the best price and USD 142.4 million through single rate interventions,
and sold USD 70.0 million at the single rate.

·

Second, the government operations. On one
hand, servicing and repayment of public and publicly guaranteed debt in
foreign currency amounted to USD 853.0 billion (in the equivalent) in
October. This amount included USD 777.8 million spent on servicing and repayment
of domestic government bonds. However, the cost was almost offset by earnings
from the placement of domestic government bonds amounting to USD 790.7
million (in the equivalent).

·

Third, the revaluation of financial
instruments (change in the market value and in the exchange rate of the
hryvnia against foreign currencies). Last month, their value decreased by USD
36.8 million (in the equivalent).

Overall, as of 1 November 2018, the international
reserves covered 2.8 months of future imports and were sufficient for Ukraine
to meet its obligations and for the government and the NBU to conduct their
current transactions.

It should be noted that the data as of the beginning of November did not
include the recent placement of eurobonds by the
government. As of 5 November 2018, due to the funds received from this
placement, the international reserves of Ukraine increased to USD 18,069
million covering 3 months of future imports.

Data on the international reserves and foreign currency
liquidity are compiled and distributed on a monthly basis:

not later than on the seventh day following the reporting
month – preliminary data;

not later than on the twenty-first day following the
reporting month – revised data.